Based on initial feedback collected in 2011, updated regulations for CASL have been published by the Industry Canada. Interested stakeholders have until February 4, 2013 to comment on the proposed regulations.
Edit: to identify correct Canadian Govt Agency (Thanks, Neil!)
Canada passed an anti-spam law in 2010. Implementation of this law (CASL) were initially scheduled to go into effect in 2011. That deadline has passed and it’s not looking good for a 2012 date, either.
Canada’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is the agency responsible for enforcement and rulemaking. This week they published 2 bulletins to help guide companies on how to comply with the law.
Guidelines on the use of toggling as a means of obtaining express consent under Canada’s anti-spam legislation
Guidelines on the interpretation of the Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations (CRTC)
The bulletins themselves offer examples of acceptable and unacceptable ways to acquire consent and process unsubscribes. I encourage everyone that sends mail into Canada to go review them. I’ll be writing about the regulations after I’ve taken some time to digest the recommendations.
There is quite a bit of vocal opposition to the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) making its way through the House of Representatives and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) making its way through the Senate. The opposition seems to have had an effect. I blogged about the bills late last year.
CNet reported today that the DNS provision was pulled from SOPA. This resolves one, but certainly not the only problem with SOPA. Also today, OpenCongress.org posted a letter from 6 co-sponsors of the Senate bill to Majority Leader Reid asking him to cancel the vote on PIPA.
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make their voice heard by their elected representatives.
I’ve not mentioned anything about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s companion bill the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) that are currently making their ways through Congress. Both bills put a lot of obligation on the ISPs to stop bad traffic on the Internet. Unfortunately, it seems no one writing the bill asked anyone with technical or operational experience for input. Many of the obligations are going to significantly impact ISP functioning and will probably degrade service for users.
The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group sent a letter to congress yesterday (PDF link), outlining the issues with SOPA and PIPA. I found it explained the bills and the flaws much better than many other summaries.